Part 6 - Aircooled Vanagon Chassis Prep

In this article we will walk through the process we took for preparing the aircooled Vanagon for the Subaru EJ22 motor. This part includes cleaning up the engine bay of grime and unnecessary items, as well as installing the radiator pipes from the engine bay to the radiator mounted up front.

This step can be challenging if using stock radiator pipes as it is necessary to drop the fuel tank to fit them through the steel bulkheads and in between the shift linkage, among other things. If you take your time and walk away from the project when it gets frustrating you will thank yourself. Follow along as we dive into getting this Westfalia water cooled.

Overview and Approximate Time Needed :

Steps

Process Description

~ Time (hours)

1

Clean engine bay and strip chassis

2

2

Install radiator tubing

8

3

Install radiator

2

4

Clearance engine bay, install water temp gauge

2

* Approximate Total Time =

14

*When you factor in rest and prep time, a mechanically inclined person should reserve a full day to complete this process. For someone new to working on cars, this may take 2 or 3 days of work.

Tools you may need:

1.Metric socket and wrench sets

2.Engine degreaser and parts cleaner

3.Fuel cans to empty fuel tank

4.Floor jack and jack stands

Step 1: Clean engine bay and strip chassis

The first step is the get the engine bay cleaned up and free of parts we no longer have a need for. We'll move up front after that and prep the front of the van for a radiator. Luckily on this 82' there were holes ready for all the brackets we'd need to mount the radiator!

The dirty engine bay after the motor is removed.

The exhaust heater assembly can come out - we/re going with water heaters!

The engine bay all cleaned up and ready for some cutting and adding.

The aircooled Vans have more room than the Wasserboxer Vans becuase the transmission sits forward a couple of inches.

Remove the clamshell spare tire holder from the front of the Van.

In this photo we see the aicooled heater ducting that can be removed as well as the radiator location currently being obstructed by the A/C condenser.

A/C condenser takes up the place where we need to mount a radiator.

The support brackets for the A/C condenser. The bolt hole locations will be used to mount the radiator.

The upper holes will be used to mount the radiator as well.

The A/C condenser removed, leaving plenty of space for the radiator with loads of airflow.

Disconnect the A/C hoses from the A/C condenser and pull it all out.

Step 2: Install radiator tubing

Once you've sourced all the parts for the watercooled swap it's time to get them installed. Refer to the pictures below for the items we need to install a watercooled motor into an aircooled Vanagon.

This step is the hardest part of the swap in my opinion. It is tough sneaking the stock Vanagon water pipes through the aircooled chassis framework. The notches and holes are in the crossmembers so that it works out great, it just takes a while and requires a lot of patience.

Now for the good stuff! Harvest these parts from a watercooled Vanagon, or buy it all new. It's up to you. You can reuse the aircooled vacuum diaphram but I chose to keep it as stock looking as possible.

The A/C condenser on top and the Vanagon radiator, fan, and shroud on the botom.

This is the toughest part of the whole project in my opinion - running these crazy metal tubes through the chassis using the stock holes in the framework above the fuel tank.

Start by unscrewing the 3 screws that hold the fuel filler neck to the body.

Then undo the overfill hose from the filler tube.

And gently pull the filler neck from the fuel tank. This allows you to lower the fuel tank.

The fuel tank is held in place with two fore/aft straps and a single 13mm bolt on each side.

Once you work the straps free you can lower the fuel tank. Make sure you've drained the tank as it can get unwieldy with even a little fuel sloshing around.

The steel bulkheads holding the metal radiator tubes.

Snaking these tubes into place takes some patience and dexterity.

Once you've snaked the tubes into place you can use large hose clamps to secure them into place. Left tube = coolant to radiator. Right tube = coolant from radiator.

View of the radiator tubes above the steering gear waiting for the rubber hoses to connect to the radiator.

Step 3: Install radiator

Now that the radiator pipes are installed we're ready to get the radiator in place. Using some of the original mounting brackets from the A/C equipment we were able to create top brackets for the radiator that turned out nice and secure. Follow along with us!

Gently lift the radiator into its new home using a jack and blocks of wood. Make sure to plug the fan switch wiring into place now, as it makes it a lot easier to install when its out in the open like this.

The radiator placed into its new home.

Install the radiator brackets using the existing holes that supported the A/C condenser.

The right side bracket sweeps around the radiator inlet opening on the bottom.

Install the rubber radiator hoses.

The radiator hoses installed. The vertical connection on the bottom is actually "IN" and the "OUT" is the horizontal connection on the back of the radiator.

I then took the A/C condenser mounting brackets and bent them using channellock pliers.

The slight bend in the A/C condenser bracket with a piece of heater hose to stop metal to metal contact.

I slid the bracket above the radiator and bolted into place using a stock bolt location. This friction mounting system works great and the radiator fits nicely into its new home.

Route the fan thermo switch cabling and relay from the front of the radiator to the interior dash.

The fan and fan thermo switch cabling all plugged in and ready for action.

Now to get the wiring and relay into the interior fuse/relay area.

I managed to disconnect each wire from the relay holder assembly and route the wires through an existing hole. Make sure to make a diagram of how the wires go into the relay holder so it can be reassembled once the wires are in the van.

Step 4: Clearance engine bay, install water temp gauge

This step is pretty straightforward and interesting. The aircooled Vanagons' transmission sits forward about 2" more than the 83.5+ vans. This requires a little modification to the engine bay firewall in order to clear the intake air duct. This proves to be quick work when the motor is out of the chassis, but as you can see from the pictures, I didn't realize this until I had already installed the motor. The water temperature gauge is fun to retrofit in my opinion, and it goes fairly quickly.

This step is best done before the motor is installed in the van. Using the natural lines of the firewall I taped and cut a small section out of the non-structural firewall. This allowed me to use the stock intake tube assembly from the air filter box to the throttle body.

I cut this section out using an angle grinder with a cutoff disk as well as a hacksaw blade.

Now lets get into the dash and place the water temperature gauge. Start be lifting the gauge cluster housing from the cluster.

Remove the defrost, hazzard, light switches, and speedometer cable from the gauge cluster.

The used water temperature gauge, clock, and fuel gauge ready to be installed into the aircooled gauge cluster.

At the back of the gauge cluster start working left to right, removing nuts and gently lifting the ribbon from the plastic cluster.

Nuts removed and gently lifting the ribbon.

Remove the aircooled gauge and install the watercooled gauge in its place.

The back side of the water temperature gauge. The center nut is ground, the left nut is for the "low coolant" sensor and the right nut is for the water temperature. I chose to use ring terminals to make installation a touch easier.

The water temperature gauge ready to do its job!

Summary:

In this step we cleaned and prepared the chassis for installation of the EJ22 into the Vanagon. The hard part is over! Now we get to install the previously prepped motor and get to driving our soon-to-be SubaruVanagon. Continue with us in Part 7.